Characteristics of the good boxer
According to Philostratus, the good boxer should have long and powerful arms, strong shoulders, high neck, and powerful and flexible wrists.  The thick shin (preventing agility) and the large stomach (preventing supple movements) were a handicap. In addition, the boxer should possess persistence, patience, endurance, great will-power, and strength.
Changes in the stripes (thongs) resulted in important changes in the technique of the game. In the past, when the thongs were soft, boxing required agility, skill, flexibility and a good technique, but later on, when the oxeis himantes (sharp thongs) were introduced, boxers had to pay more attention to defense, and so the contest became slower, more a question of brute force rather than skill.
Numerous satirical poems and epigrams were inspired by the deformities of the boxers' faces.
Famous boxers of antiquity were Diagoras of Rhodes, Melankomas of Karia, Hippomachos of Elis, Cleoxenus of Alexandria, Glaucus of Karystos.
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